Ceramic Blackbird Pie Vent

An upstretched ceramic bird with open beak, used for supporting or venting a pie. The pie bird, pie vent, pie whistle, pie funnel, or pie chimney is a hollow ceramic device, originating in Europe and used to prevent pie filling from boiling up and leaking through the crust, by allowing steam to escape from inside the pie. Funnel-style steam vents have been placed in the center of fruit and meat pies during cooking since Victorian times; bird shapes came later, likely inspired by the 'four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie' from the nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence.